Quick: What do you do if a police officer accidentally writes the wrong name on your speeding ticket? One Redditor found himself in exactly that situation and turned to the “Ask a Lawyer” forum for advice. The top-rated response quoted Napoleon Bonaparte: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Here’s how it played out. The original poster’s son was driving the family car when police pulled him over for speeding. “But instead of writing his name in the driver section, the police officer wrote mine,” the father explained. The son had been honest about his identity and handed over his license. The father added, “I assume he was looking at the registration while he was filling it out since I am the owner of the vehicle.” There was no wrongdoing by either the father or the son. There was, however, a major paperwork error.

One attorney offered straightforward guidance. “Go to the hearing and tell the judge you were not driving, and provide any proof you can to substantiate that fact.” If the vehicle owner can show he did not commit the offense, the judge should dismiss the ticket immediately. But that’s not the most important point.

You are not required to incriminate anyone

The vehicle owner has no obligation to incriminate his son, and that’s where the advice becomes more strategic. “If asked who was driving, give precise and accurate but not informative answers,” the lawyer wrote. “For example, ‘I cannot say with certainty who was driving, since I was not there.’”

Another attorney agreed and added a warning. “Most people talk too much in this situation and educate the prosecution before the actual trial begins. Then they simply fix the problem. Do not do that.” That lawyer argued the vehicle owner does not even need to stress about proving an alibi. “Request the video via an open records request or during discovery. The video should show it’s not you, either on body cam or by voice.”

From there, the advice was simple: request a bench trial and “STFU.” The prosecutor may ask the vehicle owner to identify the person in the video, but they cannot compel him to do so. “There is literally no judge on earth that isn’t gonna be mad the officer gave false testimony under oath,” the lawyer concluded. “This is when it’s fun.” You can see the original Reddit post embedded below:

Police officer wrote wrong name on ticket
byu/Infamous_Door_4507 inAskALawyer